Of course, there wasn't much to smile about over the weekend when Sharapova found herself fighting back at comments made by Williams in a recent Rolling Stoneinterview.

"Obviously I have a tremendous amount of respect for Serena and what she's achieved on the court," Sharapova said during a pre-tournament press conference on Saturday. "If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids."

The remark stemmed from Williams telling the music magazine, apparently referring to Sharapova: "She's not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it." The guy in question was thought to be Dimitrov, who is one of Williams' rumored exes.

Williams subsequently apologized to Sharapova, saying at a pre-Wimbledon news conference on Sunday that she "made it a point to reach out to Maria...because she was inadvertently brought into the situation by assumptions made by the reporter."

Share

Share

Tweet

Email

<> Embed

CTRL-C or CMD-C, then press Enter.Click/tap elsewhere to exit, or press ESC.

Your information may be shared with other NBCUniversal businesses and used to better tailor our services and advertising to you. For more details about how we use your information, see our Privacy Policy. If you are located outside of the U.S., your information may be transferred to, processed and used in the U.S.